Owners of four underground garages in Chicago are considering turning a portion of the property into data center space. The owners, Morgan Stanley and Chicago Loop Parking, have approached city officials about the possibility, Chicago Sun-Times reported.

If the idea materializes, the companies will bring new capacity to a market starved for data center space. Jim Kerrigan, executive VP at the real-estate services firm Grubb &Ellis told Sun-Times that Chicago metro was "probably the tightest market in the country for data centers.

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"It's on an 'if you build it, they will come'basis," he said. In its latest report on the Chicago market, Grubb &Ellis said data center vacancy rates in the market were as low as one percent, while demand from both wholesale and retail colocation users remained strong.

The retrofit will be a steep climb, however, Kerrigan warned. "The garage already leaks and they have to build a lot of new infrastructure to make it usable."

Grubb &Ellis said the past year had been "one of the best leasing years ever for data center space" in the Chicago market.

The carrier hotel at 350 E. Cermak Rd., which according to the real-estate firm is the largest multi-story data center property in the world, is 100% leased, following Savvis's lease of the last available pod.

Several national players have been exploring new opportunities in the city's downtown and Grubb &Ellis expects to see a large project (15-20MW) to be announced by the end of 2011.